1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for editing images displayed on a display apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a transmission apparatus for transmitting a video taken by a video camera or the like to a receiving party via the Internet or a dedicated line has been proposed and is being applied to videoconferencing, monitoring, and the like. With a transmission apparatus, a known method used when a part of the video is desirably hidden from another party for purposes of privacy and the like involves recognizing a moving object and masking the same.
For example, a technique described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,768,563 masks a region desirably hidden from another party in order to prevent objects included in the region from being displayed to the other party. However, with this method, an object desirably not displayed to the receiving party ends up being displayed once the object moves out of the region.
In addition, a technique described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-142214 prevents an object desirably hidden from another party from being displayed to the other party by having a user register the object in advance. However, with this method, there is a problem in that individually registering objects to be masked is troublesome and that objects on which a video cannot be prepared in advance cannot be registered.
Furthermore, both documents fail to mention a method for correctly recognizing and masking an object desirably hidden when an image capturing apparatus performs camera control such as pan, tilt, and zoom.